All talk and no action

On Tuesday the Government was angry with TVNZ over the $800,000 for TVNZ. Steve Maharey was angry. Michael Cullen was angry. The PM was angry. Everyone was angry. It was unacceptable, a culture of extrvagence, the board would be held accountable etc etc etc.

Today the three Board members who were on the remuneration sub-committee did the honourable thing and offered to resign. And what did the angry outraged Government do. It said, oh we are not that angry. Oh no, no need for accountability. As long as we have had the sound bites in the media about how angry we are, there is no need to actually do anything.

Also of interest is that it seems it was Dame Ann Hercus who leaked the details to the Government, as she had voted against it. This is a gross breach of Director’s ethics. If you dissent from a board position to such a degree you wish to publicise your disagreement, the guidelines are very clear that you are obliged to resign from the Board. By keeping Dame Ann on the board, the Government is signalling its acceptance of a gross breach of ethics.

But hey this is the Government that is considering appointing as Attorney-General, a Minister who was sacked for lying. Mind you, I don’t think even they are that stupid, but they certainly would do it if they could get away with it.

UPDATE: Just noted this earlier article on Stuff where they printed the spin that “there would definitely be ‘change’, perhaps as early as today” and “Steam is coming out of the Beehive”. I hope the Dom Post tomorrow note the gap between the spin and the reality.